“We decided to do what was best for our family,” Boston said of the decision faced by he and wife Emily. There was a strong pull to accept an offer from Danville to join Clevenger’s coaching staff there as defensive coordinator.

“I had a really good opportunity at Danville,” Boston said. “I have a lot of friends in that area. Three of the groomsmen in our wedding live within 20 minutes of Danville so it would have been real easy for us to move there.”

But the desire to keep their young daughter near her grandparents was a primary reason to remain in Henderson.

The return of Boston, who was in charge of the football program’s offseason conditioning program, should help ease the transition to the new coaching staff.

“I feel very fortunate to have Josh on the coaching staff,” said Lewis, who was hired as Henderson County’s head coach two weeks ago.

Boston was already helping Lewis with the transition even before he reached a decision on his own future. “Josh and I had several conversations over the last couple of weeks. He has given me insights into various aspects of the program and has tried to make the transition as easy as it can be,” Lewis said.

Lewis said the players were excited to have Boston back with the team. “The kids are big Josh Boston supporters. They wanted him to come back,” he said.

“Josh Boston is everything that is right about Henderson County football. He played here. He’s been a great asset to the community and to the high school,” said Lewis, who praised the team’s offseason conditioning work under Boston’s direction. “He’s the biggest reason this team is physically prepared.”

Still with a goal of running his own program, not being a head coach yet allows Boston to prepare for another of his goals. “At some point, I would like to be a principal. I’m going to start working on my second master’s degree. If I were a head coach, I wouldn’t have time to devote to that,” he said.

Boston starts a new chapter in his life after spending nine of the last 10 years with Clevenger, first as a player at the University of the Cumberlands then on his coaching staff for the past six years at Henderson County.

“The hardest part of this was making the call to Clay to tell him I was staying here,” Boston said. “If it wasn’t for Clay, I wouldn’t have had the opportunities that I’ve had. It was his decision to make me a defensive coordinator when I was 26 years old.”

Boston hopes to continue to build on the success that he and Clevenger helped the program achieve. “Clay did good things for this program. He left Tony Lewis a better program than the one he came into,” Boston said.

Lewis is continuing to put together his coaching staff, which he said he hopes to have complete next week.